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“How do you know?” Marc asked behind him.
Raven stayed positioned with an arm around me but spoke to Marc over his shoulder. “Heard someone talking. They really did get the rest of the Academy out of the city. Almost all of them. They found a campground not far from here. I think we’ll be joining them.”
Brandon raised an eyebrow. “Is that a good idea?”
Raven shrugged. “Sure. All together, we’re stronger.”
“What if Alice is looking for us?” Corey asked.
“I don’t think she is,” I said. “Not with a cartel pissed off that her team killed a bunch of people, not with the police and forensics out there looking for her. We’re the least of her problems. We for sure don’t know where Murdock is. She tried to torture it out of us, and it didn’t work. We don’t have him. I think that’s the only reason she was looking for us. Since we didn’t know, we’re not important right now.”
Corey brushed his palm against his face and then slumped against the wall again. “I just don’t feel like it’s done for good. Hard to feel that way when we don’t know where she is…or where Mr. Murdock is, or what’s going on. Like we started it but it’s not settled.”
“Might be a while before we shake that feeling, no matter what,” Brandon said. “I don’t think they’ll let us back still, just in case.”
We fell silent. It was hard to think our time in Charleston was over. I’d never lived anywhere else, only temporarily been away from the city.
Would I ever be back? It was hard for us to get to Alice, and it was only when she was looking for us that we managed to find her. The police might be looking for her, but until she was found, we weren’t safe. We knew that now more than ever. She’d kill. She’d do anything to get what she wanted.
“We won’t know their plans until we talk to them,” Marc said behind us. “Probably at this thing they want us to go to. Their campgrounds.”
I didn’t really want to go. It felt like the last stop before we disappeared forever. I was sure they’d tell us to disappear. Maybe it was a good idea, but it didn’t sit well with me. Gretchen…I owed her a favor. My brother…and my father… I had a lot of unfinished things to leave now.
I kept hope that what they said was right. That if they’d been found dead or seriously hurt, they’d let us know.
And every moment we didn’t hear from them, it was like they must be still alive.
Raven rubbed his hand along the base of my neck. “Don’t look like that. We’ll find everyone. We’ll keep us safe.”
Brandon eyeballed him, and then looked pointedly at what he was doing to my neck and looked away.
I flexed my hands under the table, looking out of the window toward the woods outside our RV. Maybe it bothered him to see Raven and I close and he was resisting coming over to touch me, too. This was a situation I wasn’t really prepared for. Corey, Brandon, Marc and Raven…if Blake and Axel had been here, it would have been more awkward.
How were we going to exist once this was over?
I kind of wished I could talk to Lillian and Liam again. How did they manage to make their relationship work?
To stop myself from thinking too much on it, I tried to drum up something we could talk about. “This is probably a stupid time to bring it up…but if we’re going to this camp…I mean, am I supposed to get sworn to secrecy or something?”
They all seemed to consider this for a second.
“They didn’t send you back with the others into town,” Brandon said. “I think it means they trust you enough to let you come along.”
“Maybe they want her to join,” Marc said behind us.
We all turned to him, me and Raven looking over our shoulders.
Marc had his head tilted back on the headrest but looked right at me. “Best way to keep you on our side, maybe? Have you join? It’s what they did with us.”
“Won’t they make me join a girl team?” I asked. I remembered what Lillian said.
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. There’s all sorts of teams. Liam…”
“I think they were an exception,” Corey said.
“She said they didn’t want them together,” I said. “I don’t know what happened.”
“You choose your team,” Raven said. He pointed to his chest and then to each of us. “I choose all of you. And Axel. And Blake…”
Brandon snorted. “They won’t let him join.”
“Blake joins,” Raven said. “He’s on my team.”
“You didn’t even say Kevin,” Corey said to him with a nudge of his foot, that I could feel under the table.
“He’s not here,” Raven said. “He’s been gone for a while. His wife…”
“They aren’t married yet,” Corey said.
“Same,” Raven said. “It’s just paperwork now. But he’s been gone. It’s not bad. He gets what he wants.”
I didn’t have an answer to this, but the others seemed to be lost in thought about it.
I’d be joining their team. I’d finally figure out what they were about.
Did I want that?
What would it mean if I joined?
It was then that Brandon’s gaze had me redirecting my thoughts to what he was looking at.
The ring, still on my finger. I’d forgotten I was wearing it. I fiddled with it, with my thumb, making it spin on my finger until the diamond was hiding palm side in.
While the others talked, I looked at Brandon. I didn’t know how to tell him it was from Axel. That it didn’t mean I didn’t care about him…
I needed help and time to figure out how to tell them all, that I cared about them. That I didn’t want our individual relationship dynamics to change, even if it was unfair that I was asking them all to be involved with me in this strange way.
??????
It wasn’t too long before Liam came back.
“I’ve got details,” he said. “We need to pack up. We might actually be on time.”
“For what?” I asked.
“Their campgrounds aren’t far,” he said and didn’t really answer my questions. He got into the driver’s seat and turned the key to check the gas level. “We should be able to get there without stopping.”
I got out. Others were around, undoing the tents and folding them back up.
I went to help one rolling up some sleeping bags. He’d been with us since the Sargent Jasper invasion. Dressed in dark clothes and with long hair. He had almost femini
ne features, but everyone used male pronouns around him. He was young, maybe fourteen or so. It was hard to tell. “Need any help?”
He shrugged. “Sure.” He nodded toward the sleeping bag on the ground nearby. “Just got to get these in the RV.”
I picked the other one up, starting to just fold it over.
He waved a hand to stop me, and undid his to show me how to really roll it up. “Like this.”
“Oh,” I said, fixing what I’d done.
“It’s okay,” he said. “They just showed me how, too.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Lake,” he said.
I blinked at him. “That’s a cool name.”
He smirked. “Not my given, but I like it.” He leaned over. “I’m not supposed to say where I’ve been. I’m not supposed to tell anyone. But we’re going to a camp where I’m not supposed to lie. And I’m new to this…the Academy.”
I was surprised to hear that. “You’re related to Axel, aren’t you? You’re the cousin?”
He seemed surprised at the reaction. “Yeah. You know him?”
“I think he mentioned you. Before this.” I paused. “Your family…he said your parents…something like they are like his?”
“You mean controlling and manipulative and nearly dangerous?” He snorted. “Yeah.” He moved a hand over his body. “I dress too much like a girl, won’t join sports…get into a lot of trouble. They sent me to a therapist since I’ve been trying to figure myself out, and it happened to be Lillian. And Axel had been talking about my potential.” Lake rolled his eyes. “I don’t know about all this, but I promised Axel I’d at least listen. I usually don’t fit in anywhere.” He hesitated. “Do you think I’ll get in trouble if I lie about all this?”
For someone who wasn’t sure about joining the Academy, he was really nervous about doing well. “I think we should be careful who we tell,” I said. “Protect them. Don’t offer any information unless they ask. If they need to know, let the others tell them.” I wasn’t sure how many people needed to worry that the cartel, Alice and other people perhaps were looking for money, killing people, the kidnappings…
He nodded to himself. “Don’t offer…okay. I’m just nervous.”
